My local bike shop carry’s little stock in the form of accessories etc,… Rather than have to order something in, try it on, then take back to shop if wrong to return and pay more, may as well order online and get it within a day or 2 for less with free returns.
I’m all for buying local but there comes a point of cost saving and ease.
The other problem I see with local bike shops is the repairs they offer, some / maybe a lot don’t have the expertise to fully service shocks and forks, so send them off to mojo loco etc etc… Where you end up just paying more for something you could of done.
I think most keen riders can also fit 80% of faults on their bike anyway, so where does this leave the bike shops????
I understand people like to let someone else build it fix it etc, but is that really the correct business model these days taking into account it will not of changed since the shop opened???